Natural Resources Committee on Dec. 4th, 2012

[An hon. member]

Yes.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Okay. We're talking about vote 25.

Of that amount, how much money should be used to strengthen the capacity to promote the safety of oil and gas pipelines? How much money is reserved for actions to address heightened public awareness of pipeline safety?

[Serge Dupont]

The full amount will be used to strengthen safety measures and increase the number of checks and inspections. I mentioned it earlier, and it's a matter of increasing the number of inspections from 100 to 150, and the number of completed checks from 3 to 6. The entire amount will be used for that, to respond to the concerns of Canadians.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

When we talk about vote 25 and say, "to take actions to address heightened public awareness of pipeline safety", is that different from the first part of the sentence, which reads, "...to strengthen the capacity to inspect oil..."? Is it the same thing?

Has the department spent money on advertising to convince the public?

[Serge Dupont]

No, no part of those amounts is for advertising.

The National Energy Board may have measures like that on its website. But overall, it's to have the labour force necessary to ensure safety and, in turn, reassure Canadians.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Yes, but there may be amounts given to change the websites or…

[Serge Dupont]

To give…

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

…to put ads in newspapers.

[Serge Dupont]

With respect to ads in newspapers and the breakdown of those expenses, you should direct your questions to Gaétan Caron, the chair of the National Energy Board.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

So we won't be seeing advertising on television funded with these amounts intended for the National Energy Board. Is that what you're telling me?

[Serge Dupont]

I'm saying that the amounts are set aside for pipeline safety. It's normal that part of that amount be used to provide information to Canadians through the website, for example.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Of that amount, how much money will be used for that information for Canadians?

[Serge Dupont]

As I said, that should be discussed with the chair of the National Energy Board.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you.

I have a second question for you.

Let's talk about contributions to the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board. That amount is on page 106. The amount is $7.75 million. Of that amount, how much money is reserved for translation services for consultations on exploitation on the west coast of Newfoundland in communities that are predominantly francophone, such as the Îles de la Madeleine?

[Serge Dupont]

I will have to refer to those offshore boards to provide an answer. I don't have the breakdown for that either.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I can give you an answer. It was zero.

I attended consultations for the Îles de la Madeleine, and there were no translation services. I find it appalling that, with $8 million, no money could be allocated for translation services in a community that is mostly francophone. It doesn't make any sense. I hope it will change in the future.

I hope you might be able carry a message back to your department and say that it would be a good idea to provide translation services when the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board wants to hold public consultations.

Do you agree with me?

[Serge Dupont]

I will be very happy to raise the issue with board's directors.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Okay.

Since I don't have much time left, I will give Ms. Liu the floor.

[Laurin Liu, NDP, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I would like to thank my colleague.

We all want to know more about the eco-energy retrofit program. You have already been asked some questions about it.

We know that the minister stopped accepting applications for this program in January 2012 before the funding ran out. We also know that the government has already boasted about having allocated $400 million to that fund.

What proportion of the $400 million has not been used?

[Serge Dupont]

As we indicated on our website, the envelope at the outset was $400 million. Of that amount, about $185 million will have been spent.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you, Ms. Liu and Mr. Nicholls.

We go now to Mr. Allen for up to five minutes.

[Mike Allen, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for being here.

I want to talk a little about forestry and some of the funding that you talked about in the supplementary estimates with respect to $54 million in contributions. I want to know exactly what those contributions are going to be used for. Are these grants and contributions going to fall under existing programs?

The reason I ask is that we're coming out of a very good time when we had the pulp and paper green transformation fund, one which companies used very effectively in terms of lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing their carbon footprint. What are some of these programs going to do in this reallocation? What specific programs would they fall under?

[Serge Dupont]

One very important part of the grants and contributions money is funding for forest product innovation, which is the largest and I think most successful partnership for forest research and development in the world between governments and the private sector.

Under this $54 million, the program generally is going to be composed of two parts. One part will go to expanding market opportunities. We've already been very successful in opening up new markets, working with partners in China and in other Asian economies. For example, exports to China have increased from $166 million to $1.45 billion in the span of only four years. Exports to South Korea have doubled.

Under this program we will continue to work with partners to grow these offshore markets and also to look at growing exports and domestic use of wood in non-traditional areas, for example, non-residential construction, schools, hospitals, and so forth. That means in some cases working with various partners to try to ensure that the building codes recognize how wood can be used safely in those kinds of construction.

The second part of the effort is around innovation. It is supporting the emergence of breakthrough technologies, the kind of work that we've been doing in the past through FPInnovations, for example, encouraging the development of a technology called nanocrystalline cellulose. We're told of considerable promise with a mill now in Windsor, Quebec, serving as a demonstration plant. These are various efforts.

We think the future of the industry means both innovating in terms of its products and processes and having new markets geographically and sectorally in order to grow. The industry does have to change, but we think it has started to turn the corner and it has a much better outlook now than it did three or four years ago.

[Mike Allen, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

What is the plan for how the moneys for these programs will be rolled out? Is it going to be on an application basis or is it based on these supplementary estimates? Is it for companies that have already applied and are rolling out new technologies?

[Serge Dupont]

We have other programs that are more on the basis of.... We've had the investment in forest industry transformation, for example, which was announced in budget 2010, I believe, and was $100 million for four years; that one was kind of on the basis of applications coming in.

The bulk of this one is really in working with FPInnovations and with select partners to try to advance very specific kinds of pursuits and goals.